Greetings again, fellow TORn Walkers! Here we are in the middle of winter/summer, when the weather is so cold/hot, exercising outdoors can be a challenge. Or not, for some of us live in places where the summers/winters are lovely and mild. Whatever the weather, we're sharing the Road with other TORnFolk as we exercise our way through Middle Earth. How are your journeys going this week?

There and Back Again Group Challenge Progress Miles covered last week: 86.91 Cumulative miles: 10394.73 Miles along the journey: 692.98 Miles out of Rivendell: 295.98

We're almost 18 miles into Mirkwood Forest, one-tenth of the way through (according to the Eowyn Challege site, it's 180 miles from the western end of the trail to the place where the Dwarves are captured by Thranduil's Elves). According to my edition of The Hobbit, we'll be on page 141 for a while. So to liven the journey a bit over the next few weeks, feel free to mention your favorite action scenes in the books or the movies. They go by so quickly on the Road!

My progress: Miles covered this week: 6 Cumulative miles: 450 Goal: There and Back Again!

It was a somewhat better week for me, mostly because of contextual exercise. I had a little bit of snow shoveling (finally - I hate droughts) and I've been schlepping cases of Girl Scout cookies; it's good to be the Troop Cookie Manager. Maybe, if I tell myself that often enough, I'll believe it...

The Eowyn Challenge/Walk to Rivendell (and beyond) is a Middle-Earth-related fitness group that began in March 2003, and has been going on with walkers around the world ever since. TORn's Walk is open to all people and healthy types of activity. Please visit the Eowyn Challenge site, especially the main page and the Walk page, for more information. Useful links, including mileage charts compiled by the late Karen Wynn Fonstad, are on the Tools page. grammaboodawg's awesome site for Bilbo's return mileages from the Lonely Mountain to Bag End, some helpful activity conversion charts, and the Walk to Rivendell's TORn-up Postcards Notta's Super-Duper Walking-Equivalents ChartEowyn Challenge Login Page to register miles

If you use the Eowyn Challenge site to track your progress, please update your mileage via the login page, and be sure to keep a backup record, in case Warg attack, Wizard-induced blizzard, or other fell calamity causes the Shields page to crash. Walk to Rivendell: There and Back Again Challenge - traveling through Middle Earth with thirteen rowdy Dwarves, one grumpy Wizard, and a beleaguered Hobbit

It's been a fairly good week. I did a lot of actual walking, so most of my miles are really miles that I covered on foot, walking up and down the hills here (why did I have to move to a town that is built on more hills than Rome???). Weather was mostly good, just one day of rain, no snow though - still waiting for that - but we had some ice. I can't wait for Spring, when I can explore some castle ruins again. At the moment a lot of the paths into the 'wilder' areas are closed or too muddy to contemplate.

Mirkwood, eh? That means spiders... big ones... (shudder).

Well, here is my progress report for my second week:

Miles covered this week: 37Cumulative miles: 51 Goal: There and Back Again!

Those dog walks in the woods sound wonderful - so nice to have company when venturing into the wilds of Middle Earth! Have a great week, arithmancer! Walk to Rivendell: There and Back Again Challenge - traveling through Middle Earth with thirteen rowdy Dwarves, one grumpy Wizard, and a beleaguered Hobbit

Sounds wonderful, even with the challenge of going up! The mud, though, reminds me of a weekend I spent in the Isle of Wight years ago. It was Spring, and some of the trails seemed to be made of equal parts water and soil - I got more than a bit dirty, slipping around. So stay dry and have a good week! Walk to Rivendell: There and Back Again Challenge - traveling through Middle Earth with thirteen rowdy Dwarves, one grumpy Wizard, and a beleaguered Hobbit

Greetings, fellow walkers, runners, treadmillers, skydivers, spelunkers, swimmers and spinsters. Two routine weeks of the running track and circuit training have me chalking up 40 miles. The weather cooperated enough to also get in a couple of outdoor runs through the neighborhood. I may yet catch up to gramma by Rivendell. Not a whole lot going on for me, but Little D is still active in basketball. His team had two close games the past two Saturdays, winning by 1 and 3. We are thrilled to see his game improve every week. Oh yes, and the annual running of the Pinewood Derby was last Friday. The competition gets tougher each year and he was able to eke out a podium finish amongst his Wolf den, with a nice little trophy to boot. Yay! The only thing I did out of the ordinary this past couple of weeks was change the toilet wax ring in our spare bathroom. What fun that was. Doing it by myself was a challenge and a good 1/2 hour work-out.

I wonder if Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow tomorrow. Looks like it will be snowing there, so it's highly likely that he won't. If he says he does see it, it may be time to cash him in due to the onset of senility. Or maybe he needs to dial back on the shrooms a little.

Miles covered since last time: 40.4 Cumulative miles: 1328.8Goal: There and Back Again!

Beorn is scouting up ahead while we are heading due south. Mirkwood is curving away to the east, while the Great River has been spotted far off in the distance. Just a little over 100 miles to the warm fires of Beorn's house. I hope he's stocked up on marshmallows. A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.

You know, he will now expect to win every time. That's what happened with The Little Goblin. Mr. Eruvande made him a car when he was 3 to race in the open class. It came in third, and he got a trophy. So now he thinks he is going to win each year. No pressure or anything on Mr. Eruvande.

I'll pass on the wax ring picture. I believe you.

I am SMAUG! I kill when I wish! I am strong, strong, STRONG! My armor is like tenfold shields! My teeth like swords! My claws, spears! The shock of my tail, a thunderbolt! My wings, a hurricane! And my breath, death!

He actually won in his Tiger den last year. This year's 3rd place Wolf den effort was a disappointment to him, but he still finds the whole PWD his favorite CS activity of the year. We are working on the good sportsmanship thing, which is never-ending. I think you can relate to that. A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.

And no worries - skipping a week posting is no biggie - it probably means you were doing something more active! (which means you can fill us in on it the next time you post ) Walk to Rivendell: There and Back Again Challenge - traveling through Middle Earth with thirteen rowdy Dwarves, one grumpy Wizard, and a beleaguered Hobbit

Especially for Little D! Congrats to him on placing in the Pinewood Derby (even if it wasn't as spectacular as his Tiger car). My Hobbit did something similar - won as a Tiger, placed another year. And the sportsmanship thing? it's a process, not an event, but it does trend better over the years. It's hard to believe my kid's going to join Boy Scouts soon!

I hope your next week's strength training is more pleasant! (toilet wax ring? , though it could've been worse...) Walk to Rivendell: There and Back Again Challenge - traveling through Middle Earth with thirteen rowdy Dwarves, one grumpy Wizard, and a beleaguered Hobbit

I walked four blocks with my dog yesterday morning. I know it's not much but my dog has been sick & couldn't go on walks for a long time. I used to take step class at a center near by but when they dropped the step format & moved further away in September 2012 I found that I just wasn't motivated to go there anymore. I've just gotten around to canceling my membership there & am thinking about trying a new gym. Will let you all know how that goes next week.

Miles last week: 12 Cumulative: 861.6 Goal: There and Back Again Group Challenge!

Keep going strong, everybody!! "It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And you didn't want to know the end...for how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But then you realize in the end it's just a passing thing, this shadow. A new day will come! And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stuck with you, that meant something. Even if you were too small to understand. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. The folk in those stories a lot of chances of turnin' back only they didn't. They kept going, because they were holdin' on to something." "What are we holding onto, Sam?" "That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for!"

I seem to have forgotten to post last week. I also found a math error in my walking records. :(

Miles since last post: 4.67 Total Miles: (warm-up an goal): 98.27 Personal Goal: Erebor - contributing to group Goal Mileage: 18.17 (948.83 to go)

I hope Phil the Groundhog was right. I can't wait for Spring! 'There is some woe that lies upon you... Why will you not tell me more?' 'For that woe is past,' said Galadriel; 'and I would take what joy is here left, untroubled by memory. And maybe there is woe enough yet to come, thought still hope may seem bright.'

The winter cold has definitely cut my country-road walking down, but I've been making up for it with a pretty intense exercise program... home grown, fersher :) I've been trying to lose some weight before going the TORn's Oscar Party in LA the weekend of February 22nd... and it's (as usual) a "losing" battle. Ah well. It's kept me stronger if not thinner. Putting on nearly 15 lbs due to steroids over a year ago makes this an a-typical problem. It's not necessarily fat, it's... as my doctor says... mutant cells! *ponders* Whatever ;) I just want my dress to fit! Can't afford to buy another one.

That said, I've really made progress with Gandalf and Bilbo as we travel to Rivendell from Beorn's home. We've left the Misty Mountains behind and are travelling along the road at a leisurely pace. We can't wait to see the Last Homely House in the next few weeks.

A favourite action part of the book or film? There are so many! In the film, I just love watching Bilbo fight the goblin as he using Sting for the first time. He's so heroic to set himself to follow the goblins and captured dwarves only to find himself in a one-to-one death battle! His reflexes of blocking the goblin's sword, taking a hit to the face, and keeping his head is so awesome! It gives me goosebumps every time I see it! No training (that we know of). No experience. BAM... he takes care of business.

Thanks for keeping us on the road, Arandiel! Keep Warm! *peers into monitor* That goes for ALL OF YOU OUT THERE :)